How to Get a Clean Sound Without Tension in Your Left Hand

Written by Zlata Brouwer
Published: September 30, 2015 at 7:29 AM [UTC]

This episode of Violin & Viola TV is inspired by my Violin & Viola Academy student Susan. She writes:

Hi Zlata

I Hope you enjoy every moment of your holiday and relax as much as you can. Thank you for all the wonderful videos you provide for us your students.

Something I am realy struggling with is the pressure on the strings with my left hand fingers. I think that I apply way too much pressure, but if I don't do it I can't get a clean sound. Do you think that is the main reason for the tension?

Thank you so much for your kind attention whenever possible.

Susan

This is something I myself learned wrong at first and after that learned to do it well.

There are three ways to place your fingers on the string:

One way is to place your finger on the string as softly as possible and to use very little tension. The downside of this way is that the finger placement becomes very insecure, vage and you don't hear a good articulation coming from your lef hand.

You need to use some force to hit the string to the fingerboard. That leads us to the second way: People use a lot of tension and force to squeeze the string onto the fingerboard. You get a more clean sound, but your left hand will cramp after a while. That's also not the way to do it.

The third and (in my opinion) best way is to hit your fingers on the fingerboard. In this way your intonation will also improve.

You need to hold your violin or viola in a relaxed way. You need to keep your left arm under the violin or viola in a relaxed way.

Your left hand fingers however need to be very strong and sporty. Without the bow you need to be able to hear your finger tips hitting the string, which hits the fingerboard. The strings should slap on the fingerboard a little, as if you are hitting a fly with your finger tip.

In this way your left hand will be relaxed, your finger tips won't hurt and your intonation (playing in tune) will be more accurate. 

Perhaps you can analyze for yourself what way you are placing your fingers and if you can make some improvements with the tips from this video.

Is this video helpful to you? Please let me know in the comments below! If you like it, share it with your friends!

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Love,

Zlata

PS: Do you have questions or struggles on violin or viola playing? Post a comment below or send an e-mail to info@violinlounge.com and I might dedicate a Violin & Viola TV episode to answering your question!

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